Residents debate corps' plan for bigger Morganza levee

Published: Friday, February 1, 2013 at 11:09 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 1, 2013 at 11:09 a.m.

Residents expressed concern Thursday that the price tag and more delays for a hurricane protection system could put Terrebonne and Lafourche in jeopardy.

The comments came during a public hearing on the draft plan to build a bigger, more expensive Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee project.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers led the forum at the Houma Municipal Auditorium.

Under the new plan, the levee would span 98 miles from the western end of Terrebonne to Lockport in Lafourche. The corps estimates it will cost a total of $12.9 billion to build over its lifetime.

The corps will use those comments to draft a final version of the report, which must be approved by corps headquarters and again authorized for construction by Congress.

Col. Ed Fleming, district commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, said the agency is currently looking at ways to reduce costs on the Morganza project by as much as 20 percent, but wouldn't sacrifice protection standards to do so.

He also expressed confidence that the Morganza project provides vital protection to important industries including energy, navigation, and seafood hubs in south Louisiana.

“It's my job to go to Washington and convince people from around the country that some of their tax money should go to this project,” Fleming said. “This project is critical to the nation's infrastructure.”

The study, launched after Congress authorized the project in 2007, was necessary because Morganza was going to exceed its then-projected cost of $886 million by more than 20 percent. In addition, the project needed to be updated with newer, more stringent levee-design standards enacted after 2005's Hurricane Katrina, corps officials said. Conceived in 1992, $70 million has been spent to study the project.

Jerome Zeringue, executive director of the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, said that while the state supports Morganza, changes need to be made so that these types of projects can be built more quickly and efficiently.

“We urge the corps to continue working with locals to seek a cost-effective solution and continue to do what they can to implement and expedite this project, getting the efficiencies we need,” Zeringue said.

EXPENSIVE CHANGES

The report inserts 36 additional miles of new levees, extending from U.S. 90 in Gibson to La. 1 in Lockport, said Elaine Stark, Morganza project manager for the corps. Morganza would include a lock on the Houma Navigation Canal, 22 floodgates and 23 water-control structures.

The western extension would follow Bayou Black Drive to Gibson. The eastern extension will connect with south Lafourche's Larose-to-Golden Meadow levee system below Cut Off. It would follow the path of that levee system to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, then follow eastern side of the Lafourche ridge up to Lockport. The community of Gheens would be left outside the system.

Another major change is in the height and width of levees.

Levees originally designed from 9-15 feet tall were increased in height by 50 percent. They will be built up to 26.5 feet high, and flood-protection and water-control structures would be built up to 33 feet high. Levee widths increased by 350 percent and will range from 282 feet to 725 feet.

The changes were necessary because independent experts evaluated the corps' levee standards after Hurricane Katrina and determined that only looking at historic storms to determine hurricane flood risk was inadequate, Stark said. Now the corps looks at historic storms as well as a variety of potential storms that could create different flood risks. Those models show the system needs to be expanded and modified because of the broader, deeper flooding that could occur.

The levee system designed by the corps would be built by 2035, and would be maintained by the corps for a period of 50 years, until 2085, Stark said.

Sharon Bergeron, president of the Morganza Action Coalition, expressed concerns that even though Terrebonne is doing everything it can to reduce its flood risk, getting Congress to approve Morganza's multi-billion price tag would be a difficult task.

Fleming said residents of New Orleans also expressed concerns that the price tag of their system, at $14.5 billion, would be unattainable. That system is comparable to the Morganza system and was eventually fully paid for by Congress after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. While getting such a system in Terrebonne and Lafourche may take time and hard work, he stressed that he believes it is possible to get federal support for the project.

He added that the corps is currently studying some alternative risk reduction measures that could bring the Morganza project's cost down by 10-30 percent.

Because there would be large basins behind the Morganza levees like Lake Boudreaux capable of absorbing the impact of levee overtopping without flooding residents, it could be possible to reduce the size of some levees.

But Pointe-aux-Chenes resident and United Houma Nation tribal member Chris Chaisson stressed that members of bayou communities are already living on borrowed time. Tribal communities such as lower Dularge and Isle de Jean Charles are left out of the Morganza alignment, and other bayou communities are suffering repeated flooding from coastal land loss while they wait for protection.

“These communities have been in the hands of the Gulf while these studies are going on,” Chaisson said. “My Indian people moved to the land they live on now and they may face moving again. We don't have time for another 20-year study. How can we cut through the red tape? Because Terrebonne like it is now — we won't be around to see this project completed.”

LOCAL WORK

While the corps project remains in the study phase, work is moving forward on a local effort to build Morganza.

In 2008 the parish's Levee District decided to move forward building a smaller-scale flood-protection system along Morganza's path. Last month, voters approved a half-cent sales tax to support construction of that system, which includes 10-foot levees and 18-foot floodgates from Gibson to Larose. While that levee wouldn't protect bayou communities from major storms, it would prevent the kinds of floods communities saw during hurricanes Rita and Ike.

Terrebonne Levee Direct Reggie Dupre said that tax was a true test of the project, showing that Terrebonne residents are invested in securing levee protection for the region.

“We have difficulty agreeing on some things, but there's no doubt that we want levees as quick as we can get them, as high as we can get them and as strong as we can get them,” said Terrebonne Parish President Michel Claudet.

If the corps' Morganza project makes it to construction, local officials hope to get credit for the work they've done and count it toward the billions in matching money they must pay toward the levee project. State and local officials must come up with 35 percent of the cost to build the levee, estimated between $3.6 billion and $4.5 billion.

But first federal laws would have to be changed to allow such a credit. Fleming said the corps is working closely with the Terrebonne Levee District to see that it gets credit for work done.

“I really applaud the hard work and initiative of Terrebonne Parish and the Levee District to build this project with no corps funds up to corps standards,” Fleming said.

If you couldn't make it to the meeting, there is still time to weigh in on the corps' Morganza project. Comments will be accepted until Feb. 18.

Written comments can also be submitted to Nathan Dayan, environmental manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, P.O. Box 60267, New Orleans, La., 70160-0267 or by email to morganza.comments@usace.army.mil. They can also be made by phone to 504-862-2530 or by fax to 504-862-2088.

The report can be viewed online at http://1.usa.gov/ZVel3A.

Nikki Buskey can be reached at 857-2205 or nicole.buskey@houmatoday.com.

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